Week Five of Ottawa Marathon training is in the books. I hit 65km for the week. Long runs are getting longer, and speed work is starting to pick up. Only one run had to be done on the treadmill, due to black ice and freezing rain. For the most part, it's been a beautiful week. Shout out to the groundhog(s) for NOT seeing their shadow. Hello spring?
For my long run, I had 28k scheduled for Saturday. G and I also had a commitment that day, starting at 9:30 am. I always feel better once I get my run done, so I was out the door by 5:15 am. I listened to Serial podcast for the first half, and then switched to music (loving this song right now).

I let myself zone out. Normally that's ideal for my long easy pace runs, but yesterday it lead me to missing a small lip in the road at 11.5 km. Just like that, I wiped out. flat. on. my. face. I went down pretty hard. I was startled. It was dark. I immediately thought did I break anything? Thankfully, no. I could feel my knees pretty badly scraped up and my adrenaline was racing. For a second I thought about calling an Uber and packing it in. Instead, I called my Mom and walked for a few minutes. After calming down, I decided I'd carry on nice and easy.

Outside of running, I'm happy to report that I've officially been off my heart burn medication (a proton pump inhibitor) for 1 week and 3 days. Given that it's been around 3 years since I started taking it every day, I'm pleased with this progress. I have to take a few Tums throughout the day, but it's fairly manageable. My diet has been completely grain free, and only a bit of dairy. Meats/eggs, lots of veg, a bit of fruit and nuts/seeds. I've started to notice that my heart burn flares up after dairy, so I may try to knock that out completely.

One of my biggest changes has been substituting my oatmeal breakfast (which I've eaten for years) for coconut pancakes. Pancakes may seem inconvenient to make, but I've mastered a quick'n'easy recipe:

2 tbs coconut flour

1 tbs ground flax

1/4 cup egg whites

1/4 cup almond milk

1 tsp baking soda

tiny splash of vanilla extract

Mix ingredients. Heat up a frying pan with a tiny bit of coconut oil. Pour mix in pan. Flip as needed. I then add 1 tbs of almond butter, 1 tsp of organic honey, 1 tsp of chia seeds, and 1/2 sliced banana.

In terms of natural supplements, I'm taking Apple Cider Vinegar, Swedish Bitters, and a digestive enzyme before each meal. Before bed, I take the ever so popular Calm magnesium supplement. I've been reading everything and listening to all kinds of nutrition-related podcasts. I'm loving learning about the different approaches to digestion and nutrition. I'm still amazed that I accepted being on that heart burn drug for so long!

Coach has given me a rest week this upcoming week. I'm totally cool with this. I've been working some long hours, so running some shorter distances this week gives me a bit more time in the morning. My parents are also here this weekend! So the shorter long run lines up well. :D